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Andrej Karpathy Skills

TOOL

A single CLAUDE.md file to improve Claude Code behavior, derived from Andrej Karpathy's observations on LLM coding pitfalls. Principles: Think Before Coding, Simplicity First, Surgical Changes, Goal-Driven Execution. MIT licensed

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Overview

Free tool — Andrej Karpathy Skills. A single CLAUDE.md file to improve Claude Code behavior, derived from Andrej Karpathy's observations on LLM coding pitfalls. Principles: Think Before Coding, Simplicity First,

What this tool does

Reach for "Andrej Karpathy Skills" whenever you need a reliable tool for real work across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Cursor. A single CLAUDE.md file to improve Claude Code behavior, derived from Andrej Karpathy's observations on LLM coding pitfalls. Principles: Think Before Coding, Simplicity First, Surgical Changes, Goal-Driven Execution. MIT licensed OpenRuna cross-links it to related prompts, agents, and tools, which makes assembling a full workflow around it straightforward. Copy it into your assistant of choice and sharpen the result with a couple of follow-up turns.

Use cases

  • Fork it as a baseline and layer in your own project context, constraints, and examples.
  • Keep it in a shared library as the canonical version of this tool for your organisation.
  • Combine it with related tools and prompts in the same OpenRuna category to build an end-to-end workflow.
  • Reach for it during planning or review sessions when you want consistent, AI-assisted structure.

Example output

Ask the model to apply "Andrej Karpathy Skills" to your scenario and it returns a structured answer — clear sections, actionable steps, and assumptions stated upfront — ready to paste into docs, tickets, or code comments. A short follow-up turn usually tightens the result to exactly what you need.

Tips by platform

Claude

With Claude, drop this tool into Project knowledge so every chat in the project inherits it. Ask Claude to restate the goal first, then run — it catches edge cases early.

ChatGPT

In ChatGPT, start a fresh chat and paste this tool verbatim, then follow up with "apply this to [your context]." Pick a current GPT model for coding or reasoning tasks.

Cursor

In Cursor, lift the key instructions from this tool into .cursorrules or a SKILL.md file, then reference it in Agent mode with @ mentions. Keep the title in a comment so teammates can find it on OpenRuna.

Frequently asked questions

What is "Andrej Karpathy Skills"?
It is a tool listed on OpenRuna — A single CLAUDE.md file to improve Claude Code behavior, derived from Andrej Karpathy's observations on LLM coding pitfalls. Principles: Think Before Coding, Simplicity First, Surgical Changes, Goal-Driven Execution. MIT licensed You can copy and adapt it for ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, or any other AI assistant.
Is "Andrej Karpathy Skills" free to use?
Most OpenRuna resources are open or CC0-licensed. Check the license shown on this page before commercial use; premium collections are clearly marked as such.
How do I get the best results from this tool?
Replace any placeholders, add your project context, and ask the model to confirm its assumptions first. Iterate over 2–3 follow-up turns rather than expecting a perfect first response.
Does "Andrej Karpathy Skills" work with both Claude and ChatGPT?
Yes — it is model-agnostic text, so it runs on Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Cursor. The tips on this page cover each of those assistants specifically.
Where can I find resources related to "Andrej Karpathy Skills"?
Scroll to the Related resources section on this page, or open the matching category hub on OpenRuna to find connected prompts, tools, agents, and datasets in the same topic area.

Related resources